Judiciary
crossing limits, say lawyersKurukshetra, May 12A state-level conference of lawyers held here today endorsed a judgement of the Supreme Court about the laying of certain conditions for the candidates of the political parties to fight elections to Parliament or state legislatures.

CM meets
Joshi today on IIIT for HaryanaChandigarh, May 12The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om
Prakash Chautala, will be at his persuasive best when he meets the Union
Human Resources Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, tomorrow
to persuade him to say yes to the establishment of a Rs 38-crore Indian
Institute of Information Technology.

Hisar sizzles
at 47°C
Chandigarh, May 12Several places in the northern region continued to suffer under blistering heatwave today with the mercury soaring to over 47°C at Hisar in Haryana even as the weather office here held out little hope of any relief from the ongoing wave during the next few days.

Canal
water scarcity hits farmersKaithal, May 12Acute shortage of canal water for
irrigation in this district has caused resentment among the farmers. The
water is being released in the various channels for just one week in a
month, which is not enough to meet the irrigation needs of the farmers
who are preparing their fields for paddy plantation and sowing of
fodder.

Employees
to agitate at ministers’ housesHisar, May 12Members of the Sarv Karamchari
Sangh will stage dharnas in front of houses of ministers and chairmen of
Haryana Government at the district level on May 26 in protest against
the proposed privatisation move.

2 held in
arms licence racketFatehabad, May 12The crime branch of the district
police has busted a gang of fake arms licence brokers in Rattia town in
the district today with the arrest of two persons. They would allegedly
get fake licences for arms issued from Ferozepore by giving fake address
and identification.

BKU leader
avails of DHVPN schemeFatehabad, May 12The district administration and the
Dakshin Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam yesterday found their efforts to
persuade farmers to deposit payment of their old electricity bills
rewarded, when Mr Mehtab Singh, District president of the Bharatiya
Kisan Union deposited arrears of powers bills availing of the scheme of
the DHVPN under which 75 per cent of the total amount of the bills is
waived if a farmer deposited the payment by May 15.

Sacked BSP
leader forms partyYamunanagar, May 12Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, former
president of the Haryana unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party and MP from the
Ambala constituency has formed the Manav Samaj Seva Party.

Kurukshetra, May 12
A state-level conference of lawyers held here today endorsed a judgement of the Supreme Court about the laying of certain conditions for the candidates of the political parties to fight elections to Parliament or state legislatures.

The conference, which was organised by the Legal Cell of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, urged the AICC through a resolution that it should issue to all candidates proformas containing the conditions and the criteria for the disclosure of their antecedents. It should be made mandatory for each candidate, it added.

Heat was generated at the conference on the issue of interference of the judiciary in the functions of the Legislature. Many advocates felt that the judiciary was overstepping its limits vis-a-vis its constitutional responsibilities and powers and passing judgements over the decisions of the Legislature and the Executive. A section of lawyers also praised the role of the media especially The Tribune, for taking a stand against the judgement in the Ravi Sidhu case by Mr Justice Grewal and thus upholding the right to information of the people.

The issue of interference by the judiciary was taken up by Mr
H. S. Chatha, a former Speaker of the Haryana Assembly. Mr Chatha alleged that in a number of cases the judiciary had transgressed its powers.

Addressing the conference, Mr Arjun Singh, a former Governor and member of the AICC, called upon the lawyer community to fight “fascism” of the RSS being imposed through the BJP-led government at the Centre. He feared that the “hidden agenda” of the BJP would come into force soon. He alleged that the RSS agenda was “to destroy the democratic and republican” fabric of the country. The incidents in Gujarat were telling examples of that. The veteran Congress leader further alleged that the RSS was using “illegitimate methods and force” a change in the Constitution. It was being done under a carefully considered political strategy. Mr Arjun Singh also demanded that corrective measures should be taken to check maladministration and all pervasive corruption in Haryana.

Mr
B. S. Hooda, HPCC chief, called upon the lawyers to awaken people about their rights. He also said the judiciary in some cases was crossing its constitutional powers. He feared that a situation was emerging where the Legislature and the judiciary could be on a confrontation course. While demanding that selections for jobs by the Haryana Public Service Commission should be on the pattern of the UPSC, he said corruption in the HPSC would be exposed when the Congress came to power in the state.

Mr Bijendar Singh, Chairman of the Legal Cell, asked the lawyers to expose corruption and help check deterioration in political standards. He said the lawyers in Haryana would start an agitation against the Chautala government. Mr Akhilesh Dass, a Rajya Sabha member, from Lucknow, urged Parliament to take note of excessive interference by the judiciary in the functioning of the Legislature and the Executive.

Chandigarh, May 12
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, will be at his persuasive best when he meets the Union Human Resources
Development (HRD) Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, tomorrow to persuade him to say yes to the establishment of a Rs 38-crore Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

Mr Chautala’s persuasive skills will be on test because, according to informed sources, the competition among states to get Central assistance for such an institute is intense. Already over half a dozen states are believed to have submitted their project reports to the HRD Ministry.

The sources say Mr Chautala’s job may become easy in view of the fact that after the TDP walked out of the Lok Sabha at the time of the crucial vote on the Opposition-sponsored motion on Gujarat, the BJP is going all out to woo the INLD, which has five MPs in the House. In fact, the sources say, Mr Chautala hurriedly got the project report on the IIIT prepared after he received certain positive signals in this regard from the Centre.

The institute, to be set up on the pattern of the renowned IIIT of Bangalore, will be initially set up on the campus of Kurukshetra University. Later it will be housed in a separate building to be constructed on 40 acres to be given free of cost by the Haryana Government.

The objectives of the institute will include imparting education and training in information technology at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, preparing students to become visionary leaders and entrepreneurs, providing short-term advanced course modules to update the knowledge of technologists and scientists already working in the field of IT providing quality research base to scientists engaged in IT and designing academic programmes for providing focus-intensive education and training in core technology and its applications.

Among the courses offered at the institute will be Bachelor in Information Technology and Software Engineering; Bachelor in e-Commerce and e-Business; Bachelor in e-Management; Master in Advanced Information Management; Master in Software Engineering; Master in Commerce and Information Technology; and Master in Information Systems; besides several diploma courses.

Chandigarh, May 12
Several places in the northern region continued to suffer under blistering heatwave today with the mercury soaring to over 47°C at Hisar in Haryana even as the weather office here held out little hope of any relief from the ongoing wave during the next few days.

The mercury shot up by six degrees from normal at Hisar and settled at 47.4°C.

Oppressive heat conditions also prevailed in some parts of Punjab, including Amritsar, which recorded seven degree above the normal high of 45.3°C. Ludhiana, also sizzled at 44°C, three degrees above normal.
PTI

Kaithal, May 12
Acute shortage of canal water for irrigation in this district has caused resentment among the farmers. The water is being released in the various channels for just one week in a month, which is not enough to meet the irrigation needs of the farmers who are preparing their fields for paddy plantation and sowing of fodder.

Local officials of the Irrigation Department pointed that since they were not getting sufficient water from the main Bhakra Canal, the main source, they were unable to meet the full demand.

Inquiries reveal that earlier the Saraswati system used to be augmented through the waters stored in Bibipur Lake near Murtzapur. But for the past two years, the farmers whose lands fall in the lake area opposed the storing of water during the rainy season, affecting the system.

Another factor that has aggravated the situation is the fact that sewerage water and water of nullahs of Kurukshetra town is disposed in the Bibipur Lake, which subsequently finds its way in the Saraswati system.

The continuous flow of dirty water in this system leads to the growth of jal khumbi and jala (layer of wild grass). As a result, the system cannot take its full supply of water, resulting in its shortage.

During the closure period of this canal, a large number of animals consuming this water fall ill.

Farmers at the tail end are the worst sufferers and they complain about the non-availability of canal water. They have demanded that the authorities should take steps to ensure more water in this system and stop the inflow of dirty water of Kurukshetra town in the Saraswati
distributary.

Hisar, May 12
Members of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS) will stage dharnas in front of houses of ministers and chairmen of Haryana Government at the district level on May 26 in protest against the proposed privatisation move.

This was announced by Mr Poonam Chand Rati, president of the SKS, while addressing a state-level rally at the Old Government College ground here today. He also announced that the SKS would launch a signature campaign against the move in the rural areas of the state. The members would collect 20 lakh signatures in the two-month long drive. These signatures would be handed over to the state government during the next Assembly session.

He said that the SKS had decided to seek public support in its ongoing agitation against the privatisation move. Leaders of the SKS would organise public meetings in big villages of the state in the next two months. They would apprise farmers of the anti-people policies of the Chautala government.

He hoped that the Karamchari Mahasangh would also support their agitation as it was a common issue. Mr R.C. Jagga, general secretary of the SKS, said that though Mr Chautala had promised better facilities to state employees during the last assembly elections, he took a U-turn after assuming power. He alleged that the government was planning to privatise education, public health, transport, irrigation and health services in the near future. He said the government had removed more than 10,000 state employees from their services.

Fatehabad, May 12
The crime branch of the district police has busted a gang of fake arms licence brokers in Rattia town in the district today with the arrest of two persons. They would allegedly get fake licences for arms issued from Ferozepore by giving fake address and identification.

According to information, the SP who had been asked to take action in this regard, handed over the matter to the crime investigating agency (CIA) of the district police. Mr Krishan Lal, a CIA Inspector, rounded up Pragat Singh, a former president of a truck union, and Rajinder, both residents of Rattia. Both would reportedly get their licences made from Ferozepore by showing fake addresses. A case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120 of the IPC has been registered.

According to police sources, a gun dealer from Mansa town in Punjab and another person from Budhlada were also involved in the racket.

A large number of persons from the Rattia area of the
district have allegedly got fake arms licences issued from Punjab.

Fatehabad, May 12
The district administration and the Dakshin Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam (DHVPN) yesterday found their efforts to persuade farmers to deposit payment of their old electricity bills rewarded, when Mr Mehtab Singh, District president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union deposited arrears of powers bills availing of the scheme of the DHVPN under which 75 per cent of the total amount of the bills is waived if a farmer deposited the payment by May 15.

According to a press note of the district administration here yesterday the realisation of power bills received an impetus with the BKU leader depositing payment of power bills.

The press note said that Mr Mehtab Singh of Kanheri village deposited Rs 4012 out of the total arrears of Rs 20500 and availed 75 per cent remission of Rs 16048 on the total amount of the bills.

The authorities are considering it an achievement of theirs. Out of 900 consumers from Kanheri village in this district 650 owe over Rs 1.50 crore to power authorities. The village had been a centre of BKU activists.

Ambala, May 12
Four persons were injured, one of them seriously, when a bus overturned on the
G. T. Road today. The incident took place when the DTC bus from Ludhiana overturned on the Ambala-Ludhiana road. In the second incident, a truck collided with a cyclist and a scooterist near Ambala cantonment. Four persons were injured in the accident and rushed to the Civil Hospital. Ambala Cantonment.